Just started last night, got to and beat monsoon. I am trying so hard to not play this as a metal gear title, but I keep sneaking everywhere and running behind enemies. Only realized by chapter 3 that you could zandatsu during the ninja kills. I'm not terribly fond of the lack of sneaking skills, like wall leans and taps, crawling or silent walking, and so on. When Raiden said sneaking is my specialty, he was lying. Every fucking step he takes, he bangs the damn floor. This is NOT STEALTHY.

However, groaning aside the game is pretty cool. The music is awesome, I wore a headset just to hear it better. The fighting is fun, though the fact that parrying is better than anything else you can do sucks some fun out of it. I keep going DMC and start mashing out button combos, but things die so much faster with a parry->blade mode->zandatsu. I never "liked" Raiden, but his little spaz out is sucking any appreciation I had for him as a character. I mean, when he came out in 4 with all his nonsense about scouting and tracking, I was already annoyed, he was such a novice in MGS2. This samurai nonsense of his was stupid to begin with, then he goes Jack the Ripper....what the hell? Raiden is a terrible character. I liked Quinton Flynn better when he voiced Johnny Storm on the old fantastic four cartoon. At least when Snake got fucked with, he didn't have a whole character-breaking persona change...hell he just got more Snake-like. I'm ranting though, and I should stop, because that one complaint doesn't really take away from the game itself. It's fun, and looks amazing, plus it sounds awesome. You should rock a headset for it, it's worth it.

I am trying so hard to not play this as a metal gear title, but I keep sneaking everywhere and running behind enemies. Only realized by chapter 3 that you could zandatsu during the ninja kills. I'm not terribly fond of the lack of sneaking skills, like wall leans and taps, crawling or silent walking, and so on. When Raiden said sneaking is my specialty, he was lying. Every fucking step he takes, he bangs the damn floor. This is NOT STEALTHY.

You can go sneaking around if you want in some areas but the entire affair is optional.

I never "liked" Raiden, but his little spaz out is sucking any appreciation I had for him as a character. I mean, when he came out in 4 with all his nonsense about scouting and tracking, I was already annoyed, he was such a novice in MGS2. This samurai nonsense of his was stupid to begin with, then he goes Jack the Ripper....what the hell? Raiden is a terrible character.

If I remember correctly Raiden is one of the characters with more backstory in the entire series up to this point. All the stuff that he does and says in MGR makes perfect sense, since his shitty childhood in Liberia to the ending in MGR his character has changed accordingly to the narrative of the series.

The way he is presented to the player is what makes his character so absurd at first. But really, Raiden is just a guy with a lot of issues. And besides Solid Snake was almost the same deal anyway. The only difference is that Snake was genetically screwed up from the beginning.

Raiden's story is just terrible though. Child soldier who forgot it all, then went on being a soldier anyway. Snake's story is tragic. A bi-product of cloning, born to be used for war, everyone he's ever cared for died in front of him, and he had to kill his own father, only to realize he was the bad guy doing it in the end. Raiden and Snake have had bad things happen to them, sure, but Snake's story is just fucking horrifying. Sorry, Raiden was never a good character in my opnion.

I don't really remember any part in Metal Gear where Raiden explicitly states that he completely forgets what he went through as a kid in Liberia since that moment in his life was what make him the kind of character he is.

Most of his youth he suffered from PTSD after the Liberian Civil War and shortly after that he was controlled by the Patriots until the Big Shell Incident happens.

Snake's story is tragic. A bi-product of cloning, born to be used for war, everyone he's ever cared for died in front of him, and he had to kill his own father, only to realize he was the bad guy doing it in the end. Raiden and Snake have had bad things happen to them, sure, but Snake's story is just fucking horrifying.

So far, yeah. Snake had it worse more than anyone else even though The Boss and Big Boss didn't have the easiest life either.

Mission 18 is tough. I didn't try it too many times I just know if a big enemy touches you in that one you die. seems to just throw waves of big enemy+ 4 tripods at you. I kinda doubt I'll have the patience for some of the stealth based VR missions. Couple of them seem really tough

Well, I started and finished this game over the weekend. I enjoyed it alot, although it was a little short and the plot was kind of lacking for a Metal Gear title. Would still totally recommend it to someone, though. I couldn't put the controller down.